On June 8, 2011, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan H.E. Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the need for a specialized food security entity within the OIC at the 7^th session of the World Islamic Economic Forum in Astana. At the 38^th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC, he mentioned it again and suggested locating the headquarters in Kazakhstan, a food-producing and exporting state.

This idea was very timely, considering the relevance of food insecurity and hunger in many Islamic countries. In his address to the participants of the Inaugural General Assembly of IOFS in Astana (April 2016), the Leader of the Nation noted that the Muslim world must not stay aside from the agricultural development and global efforts to eradicate hunger.

At the high-level forum on “Sustainable Development under the UN General Assembly” in 2019, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed out the importance of the goals of the Islamic Organization for Food Security, which are aimed at solving the problems of desertification, deforestation, erosion, salinization, and social insecurity. He expressed hope that all 57 OIC member states will join this initiative in near future.

In September 2020, on the 75^th session of the UN General Assembly, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev noted the role of the IOFS in humanitarian aid: «The next 10 years are critical for our generation. The fundamental goal – the complete eradication of hunger across the globe must be achieved unconditionally. In this regard, we note the importance of convening the Food Systems Summit in 2021. The Islamic Organization for Food Security is willing to provide comprehensive support for the development of food reserves and implementation of a large-scale international humanitarian campaign».

The name “Islamic Organization for Food Security” (IOFS) and the Statute of this specialized institution of the OIC were formulated at the Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts of the OIC Member States on June 11-12, 2013.

On December 9-11, 2013, during the 40^th session of CFM in Conakry, Guinea, 19 OIC member countries signed the IOFS Statute, and thus became the official members of IOFS.

The Inaugural session of the IOFS General Assembly was held in conjunction with the 7^th Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development on April 26-28, 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The hosting country was elected a Chair of the IOFS General Assembly, Côte d’Ivoire and Palestine – as Vice-Chairs.

The Second General Assembly took place on August 27-29, 2019 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was elected as a Chair of the General Assembly, Tajikistan and Gambia as Vice-Chairs, and Kazakhstan as Rapporteur.

The Third General Assembly was held online on December 2-3, 2020 in Ankara, Turkey. All 16 strategic programmes of IOFS were approved by the member states. Tunisia officially announced its intention to join IOFS in nearest future.

The Fourth General Assembly is scheduled to take place in 2021 in Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan.

The activities of the IOFS are financed by mandatory and voluntary contributions, donations, funds for specific projects, as well as revenues from publications and services.

The first three years (2017-2019) of the IOFS Secretariat activities were funded by the voluntary contributions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In 2020, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, and UAE transferred the mandatory contributions and Saudi Arabia submitted the voluntary contributions.

At present, IOFS is comprised of 36 countries out of 57 OIC states, 16 of which ratified the Statute.